St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-05


Force.
Indianapolis News.
1t is pleasure to walk up Broadway,
from Chambers to Bleecker street, any
bright afternoon from $50 to o'clock
Nearly every one Of the big buildings within
those limits has factories on every floor.
where hundreds and thousands Of girls are
employed in making clothing, underwear,
neckties, cloaks, fancy boxes and other ar
ticles Of luxury and necessity. Pretty
much all Of them are between the
ages of IA and %. By the time they are
25 they ale either married or swept
away, no one knows where. Most of
these factories close at $50 and the girls
hurry on their wraps and start for home,
and great numbers OF them live in Brook
lyn and New Jersey, where board and lodg-
ing is much cheaper than in New York,
and so they walk down Broadway to the
ferries. They are as handsome a set of
girls as can be found anywhere. Like nearly
all American women, they have the
knack of dressing becomingly, and their
trim and shapely figures are shown off to
good advantage. They do not look dscon-
tented, if bright and cheerful faces are any
criterion, and they chatter merrily as they
pass along two or three at time. They
have the independent bearing of girls who
know they earn their own living and are
not dependent on any man for support.
Some of the prettiest are ac-
companied by young men-per-
haps some of the clerks who have taken
fancy to them. Nearly all of them have
been pupils in the public schools. They
read the newspapers and can talk cleverly.
A vast amount of rot is printed about
them, but i'll point OF fact they are as jolly
and contented lot of women as can be
found elsewhere in the world. There is
great cutlery on the part of theatrical,
Short-haired and atnosherlc phlanthro-
pists, at times, because factory and shop
girls do not give up their employment and
seek homes as servants in uptown families
The girl knows what she is about. The
beddraggle maid of all work, nagged by
silly mistress, abused by horde of snappy
children, and saddled with thousand cares
has one night out a week, when she has
an opportunity to be courted by the COACH
man or the hostler. The working girl is
her own mistress absolutely from the time
she leaves the factory at 6 o'clock in the
evening until she returns at s the following
morning. Her independence is absolute,
and during her hours Of freedom she is as
much lady as the wife of the president.
She visits her friends and receives the calls
OF men who are by no means to be despised
in the matrimonial market. A great and
welcome change has come over public
opinion respecting women who have the
courage, faith and energy to get out in the
world and make themselves the arbiters of
their own futures instead OF moping at
home, burden to their friends and trial
OF their relations. That workingwomen
command in many instances the highest re-
spect cannot be denied by any man who
has an intimate knowledge of New York
life. There are ladies of high cult
IRE. finished accomplishments and many
graces of mind and person in the boarding
houses of New York who are the popular
leaders of little social circles despite the
fact that they are employed during the day.
There are grades of labor, and women have
learned to look the world in the face and
fight for the best fields.